


One Mistake

by ffranklin



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 02:21:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13378080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ffranklin/pseuds/ffranklin
Summary: Tony's there for Peter more than either of them realize.





	One Mistake

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ned asked, not for the first time since leaving Flash’s house party. 

While Flash merely rolled his eyes at this comment, MJ actually tried to reassure him in her own way. “I never said that. I said I’m sure it will be more fun than Flash’s lame party.” 

“Hey, my party was only lame once you guys showed up,” Flash said, turning to face MJ.

“Right,” Peter drawled, “so that’s why you kicked everyone out when MJ wanted to do something else.” 

Flash responded only by turning and flipping Peter off. 

Peter ignored him, addressing MJ instead. “So, you wanna actually tell us where we’re going? And like, actually where it is instead of just saying ‘it’s around’?”

MJ turned around, walking backward to face him. “No, I think I’m good actually.” 

Peter made a face at her.

She sighed overdramatically. “God, fine. Look it’s only like a few blocks from here, okay? And you’ll see what it is when we get there. But, it’ll be worth it, I promise.” 

“It better be, I’m ruining my reputation hanging out with you nerds,” Flash said, popping his button-up collar dramatically.

“If you’d rather go back and continue your party, feel free,” Ned said, all the while flipping him off. 

“Oh shut up, Leeds, at least I’m not back here freaking out,” Flash slowed his pace to walk beside him. “‘Guys, are you s-sure about this? What if we get,’” he lowered his voice to a mock whisper, “‘in trouble?’” He would’ve kept going had Peter not shoved him away with a laugh. 

“Alright, assholes, it’s right up here,” MJ said pointing to a street corner up ahead. “You guys can continue your pissing contest when we get there.” 

When they reached the corner, Peter and Ned shot each other a look. “Uh, MJ, I don’t wanna rain on your parade or anything but it kinda seems like your super cool hangout spot is just an abandoned house,” Ned said. 

“Very good observational skills, Ned, five points to you,” MJ spoke in rapid fire as if to ensure they could never quite process what exactly she was saying before she moved on to her next point. “So it is possible that my hangout space is an abandoned house in which entry to includes hopping a fence,” she said, while already hopping the fence. 

Flash glanced back at Peter and Ned, shrugged, and started to climb as well. Peter hesitated. “Okay so correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t recall anyone ever mentioning trespassing as a part of this adventure.”

MJ grabbed the top of the cold, metal fence and looked at Ned and Peter. “It’s not trespassing we’re just visiting.” She saw the looks on their faces and continued, “ Look this place has been abandoned for years and at this point, we’re the only ones getting any use out of it. I do this all the time, there’s never anyone around.” 

Now Flash was on the other side as well. “Guys, we walked like ten blocks just to get here. Might as well,” he said, practically whining.

Peter shot a glance at Ned and shrugged. He put his hands on the fence and started climbing as Ned did the same next to him. 

“Yay!” MJ cheered, from on the other side of the fence. 

Beyond the fence was a small abandoned building with an overgrown lawn. The windows and doors were boarded up but that didn’t appear to have stopped anyone as many of the boards were broken or rotting. There was trash littered around the lawn. MJ noticed Peter looking at it. “I try to keep this place as clean as possible but there are always assholes who have no regard for the planet.” 

MJ led them through the yard to the far side of the building. There, amongst many other smaller works, was a large portrait of a girl done in spray paint. It was done stylistically so the proportions weren’t exactly right and a lot of the features of the face were at odd angles. Near where the curve of a shoulder would be had the portrait gone down farther was a cursive M. 

Peter saw this and looked to MJ and then back to the portrait. “Did you do this?” he asked, unable to keep the awe out of his voice. 

Leaning against the fence, the corner of MJ’s mouth lifted up. “Uh, yeah.” They moved next to her, leaning against the fence to get the complete view of the large portrait. 

“That’s, like, really good,” Ned said.

Flash laughed. “Wow, how eloquent.” 

They stood in comfortable silence, admiring the various spray paint art littering the building. MJ broke the silence by saying, “you guys wanna try?” 

By the time Peter turned his head, she was already digging around in her backpack. With a sly grin, she pulled out three cans of spray paint, one black, one red, and one blue. 

Flash jumped forward instantly. “Yes! I’ve always to spray paint!” MJ grinned as she tossed him the red can. 

“Ned, Peter?” She held the remaining cans up, waving them tantalizingly. “You know you wanna,” she teased.

Peter rolled his eyes as he held his hand out. She tossed him the blue can and he moved towards the wall where he saw Flash already attempting something. It looked a bit like red grass but Peter supposed it was probably supposed to be a flame. Peter moved over to a bit of empty brick as MJ crouched down next to Flash. As Ned joined Peter, he considered what he should do when he got an idea. Pulling out his phone he looked up a picture of the transgender symbol and got started. 

He was so concentrated he didn’t even realize that Ned had gotten up and was looking at Peter’s phone. “Oh, fuck dude that’s what you’re doing?” He said laughing. “I legitimately thought that was just a really weird lollipop.” 

Peter stood back and looked over to where Ned had been attempting his name. “Dude, you’re one to judge that thing is literally illegible.” 

“Well, I for one,” said Flash, crouching near the ground, “think my flame looks fucking awesome.” 

Ned moved away from Peter to go look at Flash’s spray paint. It was looking substantially more like a flame and Ned had the sneaking suspicion that MJ was to explain for that. “Okay, but that’s totally cheating dude, you had help from the real artist,” he pointed out. Putting his arms around both MJ and Flash, he added, “but the combined effort is nice.” 

Peter dropped the can of spray paint to the ground as he joined his friends, once more simply admiring the side of the building. There was something special about the way spray paint looked on the side of the old brick building. Or maybe it was just the feeling of being with his friends.

Peter opened his mouth to say something, he wasn’t sure what, when MJ said, “I wish Liz was here.” 

And there wasn’t really anything to say in response, so they stood in silence. But while they were all deep in thought they hadn’t heard the sound of someone walking closer and none of them noticed the police officer until his flashlight was shining on their faces. 

As if without thinking, as soon as MJ caught sight of the officer she thrust her hands in the air, dropping the red can of spray paint. The sound rung in Peter’s ears. He was suddenly hyper-aware of everything: the light from the flashlight was too bright, the sound of the grass beneath his feet too loud, and the clamp of Ned’s hand on his arm much too rough. 

“We got a call about some suspicious activity in the area. Possible teens trespassing. You are aware this is private property?” Peter’s body tensed even more as the officer came closer. He could hear MJ breathing raggedly and he wished he could tell her she’d be alright. 

As the officer came even closer his flashlight found the spray paint cans on the ground and he flicked the light to the wall. Peter couldn’t help but wince as the light found the trans mark he had made. As the officer’s eyes flickered back to look at them, Peter pulled his binder without realizing. “You are also aware, I assume, that defacing private property is illegal?” 

Ned finally found his voice. “Yes, sir,” he said quietly.

“How old are you kids?” 

“Fifteen,” Flash said. “We’re all fifteen.”

The officer nodded. “How about we go for a ride in my cruiser.”

MJ didn’t put her arms down until she was in the back seat of the cruiser, sitting between Peter and Ned. Peter pretended like he couldn’t feel her trembling and like it didn’t set all of his nerves even more on edge.

 

When they got to the police station they were informed that their legal guardians would be contacted and they were placed in a holding cell to wait for them. 

None of them spoke. MJ sat with her head in her hands. Peter could tell she was still shaking and he wanted to hug her but he knew he was already suffering from sensory overload because he was so anxious and he didn’t need to make it worse. Without realizing it he began squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears. But that didn’t block out the sound of Ned nervously bouncing his leg or Flash pacing or MJ sniffling. 

Peter had no idea how long they’d been sitting there but he thought he was finally starting to calm down, the relative quiet of the cell not being a bad thing, when all of a sudden Flash slapped his hand against the wall and said, “This is so fucking stupid.” 

Though his entire body jerked, Peter wasn’t actually aware of that at the time. He knew Flash was still talking but he couldn’t make out the words. By the time he had managed to pull himself back a bit he heard Ned say, “my parents are gonna be so pissed. I won’t be able to leave the house until I graduate.” 

For the first time since they got put into the cell, MJ raised her head. Her voice was so soft, Peter almost thought he’d imagined it. “They’re gonna go back there. They’re gonna clean off all the spray paint.” 

Ned seemed confused. “Well yeah, it is the destruction of property.”

MJ took a deep breath. “They’re gonna destroy my portrait,” she said turning her head away from them.

“No offense but is that really what you’re worried about right now? I mean, considering its two A.M. on a Friday night and we’re in a jail cell it doesn’t seem like the most pressing issue,” Flash said.

“Yeah, no it’s just,” she sniffled. “It was supposed to be me. Or, how I see myself, I guess.” Her voice was thick.

They didn’t talk after that. Peter wasn’t sure if he fell asleep or just dissociated completely but the next thing he knew the cell door was being opened and they were told their parents were there. 

They walked out calmly but when MJ saw her mom she burst into a sprint before folding herself into her mother’s arms. She was fully crying now and Peter could hear her saying, “I was so scared mom, I couldn’t stop thinking that I was gonna be another dead black kid in the news.” Her mom was whispering comfort into her hair, holding her tightly.

Peter was bracing himself to see May as he heard Ned’s parents speaking. He could imagine her sad expression that would melt as soon as she saw him and pulled him into her arms. And even though he was still tense and anxious he would let himself sink into her comforting arms while she told him how worried she was. But when Peter walked into the lobby area he didn’t see Aunt May, but instead Tony Stark.

He hadn’t moved at all when he felt a firm grip on his arm leading him out of the station. He tried to squirm out of it but Tony wouldn’t let him and he could feel his heart rate picking up. Tony let go when they got outside and he went around to the driver’s seat of his car. 

“You know, when I told you to be better than me that applied to all walks of life.” Peter made no move to get in the car. 

“Why are you here?”

Tony had his hand on the top of the car door when he stopped. “After May found out about the whole spider fiasco she listed me as an emergency contact for about everything. She didn’t pick up her phone so they called me.” When Peter just stared at him, Tony shrugged. “Guess she figured I’d be most equipped to handle any emergencies.”

Peter thought about that. Aunt May hadn’t picked up the phone. Tony had. Peter climbed into the passenger seat. He rested his head against the cool window and let a small tear leak from his eye. 

They drove in silence until Tony parked out in front of Peter’s apartment complex. “So,” Tony said, “wanna tell me what happened?”

“Not particularly.”

“Okay, let me rephrase. Time to tell me what happened.” Tony was now turned to face him but Peter steadfastly refused to meet his eyes.

With a deep breath Peter began to explain how they left Flash’s house at around midnight and just walked around for a while until MJ suggested they go somewhere she went a lot. He told Tony how they all followed MJ to that abandoned lot and watched as she scaled the fence. He went into what was probably way too many details about seeing MJ’s art and trying to create something of his own. Then he relayed the sadness they all had collectively felt at the thought of Liz all the way in Oregon that was interrupted by the flashlight shining on their faces. He even briefly mentioned the fear that clenched him when he felt the officer’s eyes scanning his body, praying that he looked masculine enough to not probe curiosity. After describing the time in the holding cell despite barely remembering it, Peter merely said, “I’m sorry.” 

Tony was quiet, thinking on everything Peter had told him. “For what?” he asked, almost as an afterthought. 

“I know you don’t want to be here right now. I know you’re only here as an emergency contact, and to be honest this really isn’t much of an emergency by your standards. And I know the only reason you’re an emergency contact in the first place is on the off chance it has to do with Spider-Man. But, you didn’t sign up to deal with Peter Parker too. I mean, my friends… their parents came. I mean, they had to, that’s their kid. But Aunt May didn’t even pick up the phone and I know it’s because she works super early tomorrow so she needs to get as much sleep as possible and she’s always exhausted anyway so I would’ve felt super bad if she had come but still. And you had to come instead and I just..” Peter suddenly realized how quickly his heart was beating and that he had been wearing his binder since seven that morning and all at once he felt like he was going to throw up. 

Peter unbuckled his seatbelt, feeling like it was way too tight around his chest and near his throat. But that did nothing to help the feeling like he was being choked so he began pulling at his shirt collar trying desperately to get a deep enough breath. With the other hand, he was pulling his binder down, both as an attempt to catch his breath and just as a nervous habit. He could feel Tony’s concerned gaze on him and he was pretty sure he was saying something but Peter couldn’t hear anything. He felt completely ridiculous; he was Spider-Man, he had fought criminals with alien tech trying to kill him, but now he was struggling to even breathe while just sitting in Tony Stark’s car.

Peter soon realized there was a heavy weight on his back and he could hear Tony speaking. “Hey, hey kid. Listen to me, okay? Deep breaths, okay, deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth. You’re stronger than your anxiety, okay? You’re Spider-Man.” Tony kept repeating the same things over and over and kept his hand on Peter’s back as he rode out his panic attack. 

As Peter steadied his breathing and started to come back into his own body, he was increasingly aware of Tony’s hand on his back and the tears in his eyes. He pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears and he tried to pull away but Tony wouldn’t let him.

“God, I’m so sorry, I mean, first, you have to pick me up from the fucking police station and then I have a panic attack in your goddamn car. And I just—” Peter cut himself off before he started rambling again. “I’m sorry.” 

“Peter, you don’t have to keep apologizing. I’m not sorry they called me to come get you, in fact, I’m glad they did.” Tony was now turned completely to face Peter. “Peter, you made one mistake, okay? When I was your age I made a hell of a lot more than that.” His tone softened. “I’m not upset that I’m dealing with Peter Parker right now. I didn’t agree with getting put down as an emergency contact because I thought I would I would never interact with you as Peter. Because the fact of the matter is that your well-being is also Spider-Man’s, okay? And if I have to look out for both of you then that’s what I’ll do. You are not a burden, Peter.” 

“Is it though?” Peter looked at Tony. “Is my well-being the same as Spider-Man’s? The thing is,” Peter said turning his head away again, “I always kinda thought that if I was a good enough Spider-Man then it’d kinda make up for Peter Parker sometimes, you know? Like, if Spider-Man saves enough people or does enough good, it’d balance out the shitty things I do sometimes. And maybe if something goes wrong, maybe someone doesn’t get saved, then some of the good Peter Parker did could cover it. But now, I just feel like I’m a shitty Spider-Man and a shitty Peter Parker and I guess I just don’t know where that leaves me. I guess I just don’t know which I am anymore.” When Peter met Tony’s eyes he could tell that he knew exactly what he meant.

Tony placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Look, I’ve been Iron Man for a while now and at some point, I realized that it’s not two separate people. Spider-Man isn’t some gimmick you can turn on and off on a whim, he’s you. Even when you aren’t saving people and you’re just doing whatever nerd stuff you do, Spider-Man is you. Peter, you gotta remember you’re fifteen. Just because you can do things no other fifteen-year-old can doesn’t mean you have to have your life figured out. I mean, half the people my age don’t even know who they are.”

Peter cracked a small grin. “Oh, the people your age? So like all the senior citizens?” 

“All right, kid, that’s the last straw, time to go,” Tony deadpanned. “I’m serious though, Peter. And that’s a rare thing. Just because you’re Spider-Man doesn’t mean you’re not a kid. You’ve got time.” Tony then sat back into his seat and retracted his hand from Peter’s shoulder. 

Peter, now not in the midst of an emotional breakdown, seemed to be fully aware of the situation for the first time since getting in the car. “Well, thanks, Mr. Stark,” he said awkwardly, “for picking me up and everything.” He started to open the passenger door when Tony spoke.

“You know, this doesn’t mean you’re not gonna get in trouble for this. I imagine May will punish you accordingly, especially considering you got the good cop treatment from me.” 

“Right,” Peter nodded. He climbed out of the car and before shutting the door, “Thanks again, Mr. Stark.”

“Stay safe, kid.”

Peter breathed out a laugh. “No promises.” Then he closed the door and watched Tony Stark drive away before turning to go inside. When he got to his apartment he opened the door as quietly as possible and twisted the handle to close it without making any noise.

When he got to his room he collapsed onto his bed, unbelievably exhausted from the activities of the past few hours. He got up just a few minutes later to finally peel his binder off of his chest. As he went back to lie back down he felt a cold breeze and realized his window was open. As he moved to close it the light from nearby street lights shone through and exposed blue paint on his right pointer finger from using the spray can. Peter closed the window and got back into his bed. He looked at his blue finger one more time before flipping over and closing his eyes.


End file.
